Hi all

Yesterday a mate of mine said to me when i was going to the boat to sort out the starting problem to measure up my old looking main as he a good spare one at home that may fit my boat if i wanted it

Gave him the measurement last night and he said that he thought it was close

Then i went for a sail today and tore my main along the foot

Pulled my main off and we lay'd both of them out and found that his was approx 2 foot longer in the luff but if i was to get it cut down it would be just about a perfect fit along the foot

My main looks like the original, has small battens and is fixed along the boom by 4 slugs ( i do have a out haul) whereas his has full battens and is loose footed

His also has a bit more roach in it but i think my back stay will still clear it and even though it was off a 24 foot racer the weight of the sail cloth feels much the same

My luff is approx 9050 mm and my original main has 2 reefing points but his has 3 and if it was cut down i would have one a couple of feet up the luff, the next probably 3 feet after that and the 3rd would be probably 1/3 of the way up the luff so i would probably only use the lower 2

The photo below is the boat it was off but the main shown is the bigger replacement sail he had made when he put a longer boom on it not the one i can get

So the question is assuming his can be cut down to suit my boat is there any disadvantages in the full battened loose footed sail over my original main

We are taking both sails to a local sail maker tomorrow afternoon (who i would get to do the work) to see what her opinion is but any thoughts or opinions from the forum members would be appreciated

Regards Don